Denver has a retail problem it hopes to fix with cash incentives to lure new shops to commercial hubs and a website to market vacancies.

The city’s Office of Economic Development on Wednesday said its new Retail Attraction Program has $200,000 to spend to lure small to mid-size stores to town and help existing retailers expand.

The program also includes a new website — denverretailscene.com — developed to market available space in Denver’s shopping and dining districts and close the sale with descriptions and demographic details about neighborhood retail centers and the types of new shops and restaurants the city hopes to attract.

It’s part of an effort to plug the leak of sales tax revenues to commercial centers outside the city that are closer to where Denver residents live and boost the city’s image as a major shopping destination in the West.

“We are delivering on the first steps under the city’s strategic retail plan to grow Denver’s retail markets by strengthening the city’s retail hubs and by bringing more opportunity to business districts throughout the city,” Mayor Michael Hancock said in a statement.

Office of Economic Development chief economist Jeff Romine said the small pool of cash could be used to help encourage new-to-market retailers commit to Denver. Or the money could be used to cover some costs when an established business in one neighborhood wants to open a new shop in another. These costs might include tenant remodeling and improvements, signage and equipment, or a few months of rent.

“They’ve done their research. They know it will work. It is not going to cause any loss of customers in the first store. It is an opportunity to serve a different market in Denver,” Romine said. “But it is going to take them 60 days of lease to build out the space in the way they want. That is a relatively expensive thing.”

A study last year of retail conditions and opportunities concluded that Denver needed to help bolster downtown, neighborhood and regional retail destinations. To do that, Denver’s Structural Financial Task Force — which includes elected officials, city employees and community experts — recommended that the city develop a more comprehensive program to encourage retail growth.

Paul Washington, executive director of the Office of Economic Development, said in a statement that Denver now has a “comprehensive, robust retail recruitment strategy and tool kit that should result in increased retail sales activity.”

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